Kerrie, I live in Victoria and my pool in completely internal, that is to say it is part of the house and not an addition to the house. I planned to have an external door with the required regulation lock height and seld closing mechanism. Hubby was dead against this door and so I agreed to have a window instead, not long after, we found out that the laws had changed and you are no longer permitted to access to an indoor pool from the outside, so it was just sheer luck that we changed the door to a window. Further, when we purchased the awning windows (2) with regulation restricted 10cm windouts, our building inspector tried to tell us that the windows weren't allowed and that they would have to remain shut and we were also going to have to concrete "bars" into the brickwork on the outside. I argued that regulation pool fences had the same 10cm restriction and after contacting the Victorian Building Commission, I have confirmation in writing, that the windows are deemed to be adequately safe and the inspector has accepted the finding. My access to our pool now, is only from the inside of the home obviously and if that becomes illegal, then we'll just have to sit and look at the pool longingly through the window, as there won't be any access at all ha-ha I'm not advocating that people argue with regulations but if I hadn't investigated my options further, who knows where I would be, having spent $1,500 on these two windows with laminated glass and how beautiful would my brickwork have looked with prisson bars attached. Cheers, Barbara

Thanks everyone for your further comments. No problem about it being an old post, always nice to communicate with people about design solutions/problems. Jilly, I posted some photos on 1st January 2016, they appear further up in the post. Garden Beet Pty Ltd, and Morel Construction Ltd, both of your solutions look great, but our problem still remains the western Queensland sun which is pretty vicious on anything that will either wilt, fade or break down. It was quite a difficult challenge to come up with something that was affordable, workable and durable. I would love to have had plants because I believe they soften large "hard" exterior areas, but we have decided that we will do that with pots around the pool area. Still have that to do, even after all this time. :) Thanks everyone for re-igniting this chat. Jilly, hope you find something that works for you.

I think if your surroundings are white and black with hardwoord timber floor, go with charcoal colour. Blue colour reminds me of when we used to go to the Snooker rooms in the city they were all blue. Charcoal is different and very modern. [https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/game-room-contemporary-family-room-chicago-phvw-vp~3202405[(https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/game-room-contemporary-family-room-chicago-phvw-vp~3202405) - Imagine this room with white walls

Choosing a pool finish has been super stressful because once its done its done! Also, it is so hard to determine what a color will look like given the amount of light, depth of the pool, and surrounding landscape. I think I have finally narrowed the selections down to Ocean Blue Pebble Sheen and Midnight Blue Pebble Tech. Does anyone have experience with either of those? Does anyone have experience with any finishes that have the Shimmering Sea sparkling sea shell blend (does it make that much of a difference)? We really could go either way with the Tec or Sheen. It mainly comes down to color. Any advice and photos would be greatly appreciated!